The NEW Build Your Own Arcade Controls
Software Support => GroovyMAME => Topic started by: electricd on October 28, 2024, 10:54:24 am
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Hello-
I have a Mame cabinet that I custom built about 20ish years ago and its been sitting in my garage for 12 years untouched (and not powered on.) I am now interested in updating it (used to run Windows XP) and getting it going again with a more current setup. I just bought a new motherboard (ASUS Prime Z270A), Core-i7 4.2Ghz CPU, Radeon R9 380 GPU, 16GB of memory, and 2TB M2 hard drive. I plan to run Windows 10 and hopefuly GroovyMame with the correct GPU driver to match up with my Wells Gardner D9200 27" CRT. I am happy with my iPAC encoder and trackball/spinner setup, so I don't plan to do much with my controls. I am somewhat interested in replacing my paper marquee with a stretched LCD to do active marquee if I can find one that will fit (do these also get video input from the same GPU driving my CRT?). My current marquee is 25.5" wide I think. Maybe 6-8" tall, would have to measure.
Anyway, I know I can download GroovyMame and hopefully just start with my current ROMs (maybe Mame .68? Does that sound possible from that long ago?) What else do I need to prepare for? I *think* from my reading I need to flash my GPU and possibly use a custom driver for it? Is there a wiki somewhere on this?
In the past I had an arcade friendly front end where the user could easily use the joytsticks to select an emulator and then scroll through game list to select a game. Would like to have a similar arcade style front end on this update as well as it is in a 100% cabinet with no easy access to keyboard/mounse (though trackball is available). Any other advice you can give me or what I might be missing to be successful would be greatly appreciated! Excited to be back...I just logged into thsi forum for the first time since 2007!
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I plan to run Windows 10 and hopefuly GroovyMame with the correct GPU driver to match up with my Wells Gardner D9200 27" CRT. I am happy with my iPAC encoder and trackball/spinner setup, so I don't plan to do much with my controls.
. . .
I know I can download GroovyMame and hopefully just start with my current ROMs (maybe Mame .68? Does that sound possible from that long ago?)
Mame v0.68 was released on 15 May 2003 so it sounds like the right time frame for your old build.
- How much has MAME expanded and improved in the last 20 years? This much. https://www.mamedev.org/history.html (https://www.mamedev.org/history.html)
- Most ROMs have been re-dumped, re-named, re-organized, added, and/or have vastly improved emulation since then.
Your best bet is to find a much more recent ROMset first, then download the corresponding version of GroovyMAME.
- You don't need to go with a bleeding edge version, but relatively recent versions of MAME have features that you may want like LUA scripts, output system, GM sliders, etc.
- Look for a ROMset that specifies what version of MAME it is for, not the number of games in it.
- MAME v0.270 came out last month and v0.271 will probably release in two days since new releases usually drop on the last Wednesday of the month.
To keep the games list manageable, I put the full ROMset in "..\mame\roms\archive\" then copy the needed ROMs, BIOSes, and device driver files into "..\mame\roms\".
Scott
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Great advice, I will get an updated ROM set and work to filter it down to just what I want on the cabinet. I do remember that being one of the big annoyances before, i had thousands of games, but only played a few hundred at best. I think I will work to filter the list to just the really good ones this time! I am also interested in replacing my marquee with a stretched LCD this time. I think GroovyMame has a way to output marquees to a secondary display and I know my video card has multiple outputs, any reason I shouldn't look at this? My marquee space is limited and I found a supplier who has one that will fit, but its resolution is 1920x366. Think I can make that work?
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i had thousands of games, but only played a few hundred at best. I think I will work to filter the list to just the really good ones this time!
The "All Killer, No Filler" lists are a great place to start.
https://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,149708.0.html (https://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,149708.0.html)
There's also dgame's excellent list.
https://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,129295.msg1327639.html#msg1327639 (https://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,129295.msg1327639.html#msg1327639)
The Wiki has some game lists, too.
3-8 player games - https://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?title=Multi-Player_Games (https://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?title=Multi-Player_Games)
(Some of these like The Simpsons have 2-player versions of the ROM)
Dual stick games - https://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/Joysticks#Games_with_Dual_Joysticks (https://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/Joysticks#Games_with_Dual_Joysticks)
Spinner games - https://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?title=Spinners_and_Dials#Which_games_originally_used_a_spinner.2Fpaddle.3F (https://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?title=Spinners_and_Dials#Which_games_originally_used_a_spinner.2Fpaddle.3F)
Lightgun games - https://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?title=Light_Guns#Lightgun_Games_List (https://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?title=Light_Guns#Lightgun_Games_List)
Rotary joystick (Ikari Warriors) games - https://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?title=Joysticks#Mechanical_Rotary_Joystick_Games_.28LS-30.2C_Happ_Mechanical_Rotary_Sticks.29 (https://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?title=Joysticks#Mechanical_Rotary_Joystick_Games_.28LS-30.2C_Happ_Mechanical_Rotary_Sticks.29)
Analog stick/yoke games - https://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?title=Joysticks#Analog_Joysticks (https://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?title=Joysticks#Analog_Joysticks)
*** If the wiki's links to game lists look broken, change the URL from "newwiki" to "wiki" and they will work. :banghead: ***
Also, it probably wouldn't hurt to review the design process outlined in the "What type of build meets my needs?" section of the FAQ.
https://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/FAQ#What_type_of_build_meets_my_needs.3F (https://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/FAQ#What_type_of_build_meets_my_needs.3F)
My marquee space is limited and I found a supplier who has one that will fit, but its resolution is 1920x366. Think I can make that work?
That's around a 5.25:1 ratio. Many marquees are closer to 3.25:1 (or less) so they would be rather short horizontally unless you stretch them :puke or add some art elements on the ends to help fill the gap.
It will take some graphics editing skill and a good bit of effort to make them all look good.
Only you can answer if the juice is worth the squeeze. :dunno
If you do choose to go down that path, some people have posted their collection of higher resolution marquees than the common default of 500px wide.
Scott
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This is very helpful! Is there a list of track ball games that work in Mame? Like Word Class Bowling and others? My control panel has a trackball and I remember playing that one on it quite a bit.
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Is there a list of track ball games that work in Mame? Like Word Class Bowling and others?
I don't remember seeing one around here, but here are several from other sources that might get you started -- haven't reviewed them so caveat emptor.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_trackball_arcade_games (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_trackball_arcade_games)
https://forums.launchbox-app.com/topic/50312-mame-trackball-playlist/ (https://forums.launchbox-app.com/topic/50312-mame-trackball-playlist/)
Scott
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This is very helpful! Is there a list of track ball games that work in Mame? Like Word Class Bowling and others? My control panel has a trackball and I remember playing that one on it quite a bit.
http://adb.arcadeitalia.net/lista_mame.php?lang=en
Additional Filters -> Input -> Input -> Trackball -> Search